McNeills Old Ringworm

Brewed by McNeills Brewery
Style: Old Ale
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Bottle. Brown color with yeast in suspension, thin head. Aroma of malt, caramel, maple syrup and alcohol. Good malt, caramel and maple syrup flavor with alcohol vapors. Bitter finish, medium body.

Bottle: Pours a nice dark amber/brown with lots of yeast and sediment. Interesting nose smells like sweet earth, wood, sweat, plums, rotting wood. Flavor of caramel, rich malt, citrus, roasted chocolate. Very malty but balanced near perfectly by some hops bitterness. Would like to try this beer after more aging.

03 or 04 bottle (not sure) compliments of bucknaked (probably 04 bottle). Pours well enough, great dark ruddy brownish red, quite bright and foamy, with plenty of carbonation. Obviously bottle conditioned. Aroma of sweet, challenging yeast, funky and peppery, lots of vanilla, oak, wood, earthiness, some dry caramel. Low hops profile. Flavor is yeasty and malty, almost to the point of a sweet belgian dubbel, but then it quickly dries out and picks up much yeast complexity. Hops are quite subtle, giving bitterness, but not overly so. A decent shot of maltiness is chewy and lingers. I like the yeast part, but the fruit is not estery and as detectable as I would like. Want some more figs, dates, plums and what not. Still a great beer and well made. Medium-full body.

Dark murky brown body with hints of amber coming through. Decent sudsy head. Sweet earthy woody tones. Very plesant aroma. Mild malty flavors, earthy and yeasty with some subtle citrus notes and a mild hop bitter and flavor on the finish. Smoothe, highly drinkable. Slight warming sensations go well with the bitter aftertastes. Another great McNeills product.

(22oz bottle) Vintage 1996 - Thanks Mr. McNeill. Pours a deep orange body with a little head. Nose of rotting plums, soya sauce and a sweet port wine. Very oily. INCREDIBLY SMOOTH! No sharp flavours. Mellow malts blend with aged-bitter hops. No detection of its 9% alcohol. As RESPECTFUL as a beer should be. And thank you to Lubiere for sharing this with me...

Flat, yeasty aroma. Woody caramel body with lots of chocolate malt. Dry, mossy, slightly sour finish. 1-dimensional, and not a lot of fullness, especially for the alcohol content.

Unfiltered ruby apricot. Fat off-white head deposits thick lacework. Lovely aroma of pineapple and sweet, powdery/bready malts. Milder notes of roasted chocolate, tobacco, caramel, spicy esters, and cherry acidity. Feathery-soft carbonation. Surprisingly mellow, initially, before a rich malt wave thickens the body and imparts plenty of bready sweetness. Subtle pineapple, earthy hop bitterness gets help from the savory roasted malt anchor. Overly addictive interplay between the fluffy body and elegant maltiness. Marvelous balance in the finish with the roasted malts caressing the delicate maraschino cherry notes. Hop bitterness gives way to roasted chocolate and slightly chalky yeast remnants. Yes it’s lighter-bodied than you’d expect, but it’s so feathery soft, which allows the malts to gracefully strut their stuff. And it tastes more like 6.5% than 9%. Also a really nice aroma, uncannily similar to the old version of Third Coast Old Ale. Thanks, Cougar!

Cloudy brownish amber color with a foamy tan head. Reminds me a bit of a slightly sweetened tea. At first I didn't feel that the ssweet malt and bitter hop tastes (both good on their own) were very complementary. After taking a few minutes to breathe, that all changed and this became a very good ale.